Objectives
The aim of this project is to construct a database of commonplace artifacts from the materials in Minpaku’s Europe collection, focusing on Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland. “Nordic design”, which refers to furniture and interior goods from Scandinavian countries and Finland, is very popular in Japan. The materials that are the focus of this project could be described as the origins of Nordic design and the objective is to create a database that can be utilized for interdisciplinary research, such as comparative research with the Japanese Mingei movement’s “beauty in utility” concept, as well as content development for design museums.
The Nordic countries are digitally advanced, with some offering large-scale digital platforms for cultural resources, and our ultimate aim is to realize a cross-border integration between our database and this kind of platform – something which is more or less unprecedented here in Japan. Achieving this would make it possible to add annotations to unsorted materials on an ongoing basis and provide more in-depth information.
Description
Countries such as Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland have different lifestyles from other regions of Europe due to their climate. It is said that the long, harsh winters, which force people to spend a lot of time indoors, led to the creation of furniture and interior accessories that combine “simple designs which never get old” with “functionality and practicality that can be used and enjoyed for years.” [1] The hours of daylight during winter in Norway are particularly short, so indoor lighting fixtures play a very important role in daily life and it is thought that this has resulted in some excellent designs. Lamps designed by Jac Jacobsen are particularly highly acclaimed both domestically and internationally, with one even being used in the logo for Pixar animation movies[2]. Scandinavian design flourished in the 1950s and 1960s[3]. After the war, Danish-American Frederick Lunning began importing and selling handcrafted Nordic products in America and they soon became popular. In 1951 the Lunning Prize was established for Nordic designers, and in 1957 the Jacob Prize, named after the metalworker Jacob Tholstrup Prytz, was established in Norway. This gave rise to the generic term “Nordic design”, which was used to refer to design from the Scandinavian countries and Finland. In Japan, the interior design companies IKEA and Illums have been popular ever since they opened their first stores in 1974 and 1998 respectively[1].
The Northern European artifacts in Minpaku’s collection from Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland include many practical daily commodities that were collected in the 1970s and 80s and can be said to be the origins of Nordic design. However, many of them are in an unsorted state, and for some materials the most recent data displayed in the database are images that were photographed in 1984. The materials collected in these regions include approximately 1,840 artifacts, 44 videos and 36 audio recordings. In addition, the photograph collection in the Tadao Umesao Archives includes 189 photographs tagged as “Kingdom of Norway, Kingdom of Sweden”, but the locations captured in the photographs are unknown. In the same collection there are a further 235 images tagged as “Russia”, but we have confirmed that at least some of them were taken in Finland.
The aim of this project is to create a database of approximately 760 artifacts (excluding materials related to indigenous peoples) and 200 photographs from the Tadao Umesao Collection, and make it available to the general public. Based on this, our ultimate aim is to continue to develop our research through joint studies and research grants, in order to forge connections with databases in the target countries and conduct research of design exhibition methods at design museums, which is an established field in Europe, but not yet in Japan.
Expected results
By carrying out basic preparatory work for the online publication of materials from among Minpaku’s collection of cultural artifacts used mainly in the European countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland, and which represent the origins of Nordic design, this will be the first database for preserving and passing on Nordic culture – a subject area about which Minpaku has not previously disseminated much information. In order to be able to clearly observe the designs, old photographic data will be updated, and the information for the materials will be provided in Japanese and English, as well as local languages where necessary. This unique database will be one of just a few in Japan which aim to promote an understanding of design. Following construction, by linking it with databases in the target countries, we hope to create a system for annotating the materials on an ongoing basis. The data will be applicable to research in various fields, and will become a useful resource in preserving and passing on culture.
references
[1] https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/北欧デザイン
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jac_Jacobsen
[3] https://artscape.jp/artword/6153/